The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-27
TEA, COFFEE AND SUGAR.
How Some of Gotham's Solid Men
NimbIy Hunt the spry sixpence.

How Some nj GOtham'1 solid Men
Nimbly Hunt the spry sixpence-
Part of Wall street is not Wall street at
ALL Down by the ferry. around Front
and Water streets, there is no stock and
bond flavor whatever. Things down there
smack of China, of Java, of Brazil, and
of Cuba, but of nothing nearer home.
Down there the big men in tea, coffee,
sugar and molasses rule the roast. Ii
there is any boarding house keeper who
wants to buy the table luxuries by the ton
or the cargo, just drop around. but other
wise stick to the corner grocery. There
is where the solid men of New York and
BROOKLYN nimbly hunt the spry sixpcncc.
At home these heavy citizens are never
asked to do anything. but down there ON
the market they skip around like Wallets
to Mammon. With a painful of green
coffee beans in one hand and little paper
of Oolong in the other, they jump to
serve their masters whinls.
1t seems funny to sec the millionaire
pumping long fiat stick up and down
through the bunghole of a hogshead Of
molasses on the street. running his dia-
mond studded fingers along it. and SCOOP
ing the saccharine treaclc into his gold
plugged mouth. He is an expert but lac
cannot lick his fingers any better than the
rude untutore1 urchin who steals lesson
at it when the expert turns his back.
Over on the Office steps stands q man
whose trotters will by and by be spurning
the dust of Central avenue from their
hoofs. Look at him sitting coffee. How
cOmplacently lie rattlts the sieve. Look
at him watt it from side to sale. and toss
its contents up and down Ike "A pancake.
What is he doing? Blowing the chaH
out of il. It's sample. and the pur
chasing jobI'er is at hand. He has iu;9t
roasted a few handouts in his own little
rooster in the office, for he himself
bogI%llt the coffee green.
Four times Il ycs.r-in March. june,
September and DVc2mbcr-th Dutch
government sells coffee mt public auction
in P;idang. The DItchman there meas
ur,.s lis coffee b. tI.e I,icul 1:i5 poun.!5I
AMI values it by the gIIildcr 0ifty cents,
go the New Yorker just figures out the
equivalent of say, twenty cents pound,
and cables his limit to his agents, and
they bill the Dutch auctioneer So much
AMI no more. The day after the SALE.
everybody in the trade knows who
bought. how much he bought and what
he Bought at. The conundrum then III:
What profit Is he satisfied with What
VIII IT., sell at,
business Is that there are about five times
n, many pounds of il sold over the
grUccr's counter a. there are grown on
the i.land. AS Mark Twain says, this
would look Ike Il discrepancy, or hiatus.
but we've got to accept facts as we find
them.
Coffee from Padang to New York.
after voyage of 100 days, arrives more
or less Gwcated. This part Is all SKINNED
| OF in Brooklyn warehouses and afterward
sold as .'sl1imninc;" To jo5beTs ut a re
duccd price. 1t was never known to go
| any further than that, because the retail
er5 never sell you anything but ''pure
| old Government Java
| In the tasting room of large firm of
| tea brokers in Water street half dozen
men of critical palates sit around a re-
volving table slipping tea from delicate
| china cups. It's a tea party, but what "A
| tea table! No cloth, no milk, no sugar.
no gossip, y circle of cups outside of n
ring of canisters, copper kettle of boil
ing water, and that's all-strictly bust
ness. They sip, and they smack and
they spit \ brass spittoon, as high as
the table, and looking like a German
| trombone Strengthened out, receives all
the elected liquor.
| Some time ago New YORK started tea
auctions every week, and Chicago is fol
lowing suit, but tea is n commodity that
loses its flavor very easily, and Chicago
unsavory origin probably has a good deal
to do with her failure to rival the me-
tropolis as a tea mart. The Wall street
auctions have become quite social af-
fair. Coffee, sandwiches and napkins are
| passed around among tine guests. When
they sit down facing the auctioneer's ros-
trum, pencils and catalogues in hand, you
might easily imagine them group of re-
porters sitting in execution on the latest
imported lecturer. IL is an ordinary
thing for 10000 half chests to be sold.
This means At. 900 pounds, and when a
couple of spoonfuls make a nice cup OF
tea look at the delight in store for Gun
| crandmothers. New York Sun.